The Lantern

Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: Sports

Sean Spitzer/The Lantern Bryan Koniecko became Ohio State's second winner of the Big Ten Player-of-the-Year award this season. Koniecko hopes to lead the Buckeyes to the National Championship.

The Ohio State men's tennis team does not believe that Patrick McEnroe is right.

McEnroe, the ESPN tennis anaylist, said that No.10 Florida would defeat the Buckeyes in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, if the match-up happens on Sunday, May 18th.

"Luckily, Mr. McEnroe doesn't decide what we do," Junior Bryan Koniecko said. "Everyone has their opinion, but I know that we are the best team or could be the best team. We'll see."

"He thinks that Florida can beat us in the quarterfinals due to the fact that they come from the toughest conference and they feel that they have been battle-tested all year long," coach Ty Tucker said. "Patrick McEnroe knows his stuff, but I doubt he spent much time. He might have gone through 30-40 minutes of college tennis notes."

But Tucker remembered that the Buckeyes have beaten three of the top Southeastern Conference teams. They beat Mississippi, 5-2, Georgia, 4-1and LSU, 4-2.

"By no means do we think we are an underdog against anybody," Tucker said.

The Buckeyes will play the first round against Cleveland State and the second round against East Tennessee State or Notre Dame. Both games will be played in Columbus. The exact dates have not yet been determined, but they will play the first and second round on the weekend of May 9-11.

"We have lost three of the last four years in the quarterfinals," Tucker said. "We haven't been able to advance past the quarterfinals. We've got a lot of work left to do."

Koniecko wins Big Ten POY

Koniecko won his first Big Ten Player of the Year award. The only other Buckeye who won the award was Vince Ng in 2003.

Koniecko won all 10 meetings he had in the Big Ten, including a road victory against Ryan Rowe of Illinois, who was ranked ahead of Koniecko at that time.

"I've pulled out a good number of matches in a row," Koniecko said. "Obviously, I'm playing my best tennis here so far. So, it's nice to get rewarded."

No. 17 Koniecko is the highest-ranked player out of the Big Ten in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association national top 125. The second-place player in the Big Ten is No. 19 Rowe.

Tucker goes for three

Tucker won his third consecutive Big Ten Coach of the Year award as he was able to lead the Buckeyes to another undefeated record in the Big Ten.

Tucker has been the only coach at Ohio State to win the award, which was his fourth total since 2001.

"You got to have good players to get those awards," Tucker said. "So, obviously, we got the best players, so I got the award."

The Buckeyes win the Big Ten tournament

Just like the regular season crown, the Buckeyes have won their third consecutive Big Ten tournament by beating Illinois 4-3.

"We had a good Big Ten tournament," Koniecko said. "We came out a little tight against Illinois, but coming through that match gave us confidence going into the NCAA's"

The Buckeyes lost the doubles point in the Illinois match, only the third time this season they lost the doubles point. The other two times was to Mississippi and No. 1 Virginia, which is the Buckeyes' only loss, 1-4.

Will Toman can be reached at toman.7@osu.edu.

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